Building a Homebase

[ssomwm]

We have been living in our RV for 10 years now and I am really thinking that it makes sense to try to set up a homebase on some land that we would own instead of paying RV parks.  I would love to hear from others who have purchased property and set up their own homebase.  How did you find the land that would allow you to live in your RV?  What is rough idea of the costs involved (yeah I know it will vary widely - put wanted to try to get some ball parks).  What suggestions do you have and would you consider doing it again?

Thanks

-Bill

[Captain Happy]

Have you thought about all the cost involved in buying the land, putting in electric power, water, and a sewer system?

Have you even considered looking into a Escapee Co-Op park site. It would be a whole lot less expensive. The major problem with that idea is, just about all the Co-Op parks already have a waiting list a mile long. building any more there either.

Good luck with your idea. 

[bobsallyh]

We have been fulltiming for 17 years. Left Pennsylvania, cut all ties with them. Since then we have been out west, spend winters in Yuma, AZ. travel north in the summer. We were in the same park in Yuma for about 14 years. I like the RV park atmosphere but when the park changed ownership a couple of times, enough was enough. So fortunately in the Foothills on the east side of Yuma there are RV lots in residential areas. Most have 2 FHU's, Mexican brick wall on the sides and back with a gate on the front. We can put 2 RV's, or stick built house, or 1 mobile, or 1 modular, or 1 park model. There are hundreds of these lots in the area that are for sale or rent. We just come and go when we want. If you look on Yuma Craig's List under "For Rent" and "For Sale you can see pictures of what I'm describing. Next month there will be many more to view. In all our travels over the years we have never run across anything like this situation.

[JRP]

I did it 3 times, in 3 different states, and still own & use all 3 as part time seasonal homebases. My total costs from purchase to improvements and buildings varied from $25,000 to $60,000 to $125,000. Each one was completely different from the other. There is no secret formula or trick. It takes lots of time and money.  If you're looking for a easy, cheap way to own your own RV lot, I agree with the above, try to get an Escapee or similar park lot to live on. I didn't go that route because the primary reason I wanted my own homebase was to avoid having other folks living 10 feet away from me. After 5 yrs of alternating between weeks of boondocking to weeks in an RV park to recover, I discovered I did not enjoy RV park living and although I enjoyed boondocking, I wasn't willing to do it fulltime. 

So my first recommendation is to be honest with yourself and think deeply about why you want to do this. List your priorities and minimum needs and maximum budget. Planning a good boondocking site for a few weeks is completely different than planning a site to live on for the next 10 yrs. 

Second, plan on 100's of hours looking and researching and doing due diligence on potential purchases. There are lots of scammers out there in the raw land business. There are lots of rules & restrictions that are not clear without hours of research at the County Courthouse. 

Trying to setup an RV living property anywhere close to residential developments is asking for trouble (unless its in an established RV development). You need to be willing to go remote and deal with the extra costs and issues that come with living out in the middle of nowhere. The alternate is buy a property with a mobile home and existing utilities that has room for an RV pad. 

Yes, I'd do it all again. I've never been happier. But its not an easy or cheap process.

Edited August 8, 2020 by JRP

[mb36912]

JRP absolutely nailed it!! 

We have looked at several places to put a homebase with the last being in southeastern AZ.  It takes lots of research and checking into permitting and zoning requirements regarding permanent RV occupancy.    [In Cochise County, you cannot use your RV as a permanent residence.  You are technically only allowed to live in your RV for 12 months while building a permanent residence of not less than 296 SF.  This is largely ignored.]  The land itself was the cheap part of the equation.  In addition to the land, the quotes for septic ranged from $7k-10k; the well was $14k-$20k depending on depth and whether rock was encountered; and power was $25-$50 per LINEAL foot to the property line depending on conditions encountered and easements required.....and then we needed to get it from our property line to our building pad site.  Power installation costs killed that deal.  If you can find something reasonable that already has these features installed, great.  But they are very, very hard to find and typically reflect the costs people have already sunk into getting the site prepped.  The simpler way is to get a lot in an existing area, RV park, or SKP facility and utilizing it.

[sandsys]

There are some people who did this by buying land somewhere south of I-40 and east of AZ 95. Unfortunately, I no longer have contact information but you could, maybe, go wandering around there to see if you can find them.

Linda Sand

[ToddF]

I recommend looking for a S+B home with a good place to park your RV on site.

Choice #2 would be to buy a lot in an existing development.

Buying raw land and starting from scratch will take too much time and $.

 

[Jim & Alice]

2 hours ago, bobsallyh said:

... Since then we have been out west, spend winters in Yuma, AZ. travel north in the summer... in the Foothills on the east side of Yuma there are RV lots in residential areas. Most have 2 FHU's, Mexican brick wall on the sides and back with a gate on the front. We can put 2 RV's, or stick built house, or 1 mobile, or 1 modular, or 1 park model. There are hundreds of these lots in the area that are for sale or rent. We just come and go when we want. If you look on Yuma Craig's List under "For Rent" and "For Sale you can see pictures of what I'm describing. Next month there will be many more to view. In all our travels over the years we have never run across anything like this situation.

X2.   My wife and I been fulltiming for 7 years, have done the same thing, same type of lots, only in Wellton just outside of Yuma.   We have a large storage shed, and recently a large steel "RV Port" that provides cover for our MH and car.

 

Edited August 8, 2020 by Jim & Alice

[NDBirdman]

You did not say or I missed it.  What part of the country do you want to buy in?  Norf Dakoota land can be inexpensive and mostly RV friendly out of town.  But, you don't want to winter here in an RV but spring/summer/fall is awesome.  Getting a permanent lot to build up, is this for summer living, or winter living. 

[Randyretired]

JRP information is very close to what I would recommend.  We have property in a couple of states setup for our RV.  21 years ago we bought our first property and we have used it a lot.  We were just hoping it would sell for what we had in it when we bought it.  Today it is worth more than 3 times that.  Property taxes have held pretty equal to one month at an RV park.  We haven't been in an RV park in years but we also have a home.  We use our RV about 9 months a year.  I do a lot of the maintenance and repair on our HDT, 5er and car.  No problems there.  We have a shed on the properties with a washer and dryer and storage.  Depending on where you want to stay there are some inexpensive places or if you prefer some pretty nice places.  We had a dog so we fenced our properties.  We would do it again in a minute.  We kept the prices on the lower end so that we didn't feel we had to use the properties.  We boondock when we are not at the properties. Parks are not our thing.  If you know about where you would like to be someone may be able to recommend an area.  Here in Western Colorado some counties allow it, some make it difficult and some don't allow it.  Prices are all over the place depending on what and where.  

[fpmtngal]

4 hours ago, bobsallyh said:

We have been fulltiming for 17 years. Left Pennsylvania, cut all ties with them. Since then we have been out west, spend winters in Yuma, AZ. travel north in the summer. We were in the same park in Yuma for about 14 years. I like the RV park atmosphere but when the park changed ownership a couple of times, enough was enough. So fortunately in the Foothills on the east side of Yuma there are RV lots in residential areas. Most have 2 FHU's, Mexican brick wall on the sides and back with a gate on the front. We can put 2 RV's, or stick built house, or 1 mobile, or 1 modular, or 1 park model. There are hundreds of these lots in the area that are for sale or rent. We just come and go when we want. If you look on Yuma Craig's List under "For Rent" and "For Sale you can see pictures of what I'm describing. Next month there will be many more to view. In all our travels over the years we have never run across anything like this situation.

You sound like you are close to a friend of mine.  He needed a stick house for a disabled wife but wanted the hookups because they had been full-time RVers for 10 years and wanted to keep an RV.  His house is a 700 square foot 1 bedroom, so when I visit I use his full hookups next to the house.  With the walls around his property, it’s like he as a nice compound to live in, when he’s there.  When/if I decide to get a home base, I want to do something similar to his place - low maintenance yard, easy to leave but still welcoming with a couple of great porches to sit on when the weather is cooler.

[Kirk W]

We lived in a barn-dominium when we left the road. Lots of people are building these in TX.

 

[bobsallyh]

Kirk W, I think they are a great idea. There are numerous ones in the Foothills area where we have our RV lot.

[Velos]

I don't know what you are looking for in the way of property but here are two links for deeded RV lots for sale in Juniper Ridge RV Resort in Show Low AZ.  https://juniperridgeresort.com/

Water and sewer is already in and depending which lot you select some are just gravel and some have concrete pads.

https://www.zillow.com/show-low-az/at-juniper-ridge-rv-resort_att/

https://www.juniperridgerealestate.com/property/

 

 

Edited August 9, 2020 by Velos
omitted "RV"

[sandsys]

5 hours ago, bobsallyh said:

Kirk W, I think they are a great idea. There are numerous ones in the Foothills area where we have our RV lot.

Those lots in the foothills are gorgeous! We stayed one night in one and it was lovely.

1 hour ago, Velos said:

I don't know what you are looking for in the way of property but here are two links for deeded RV lots for sale in Juniper Ridge RV Resort in Show Low AZ.  https://juniperridgeresort.com/

Show Low is up in the mountains so it gets winter.

I guess if you bought one lot in each complex you could just move up and down the mountains allowing you to stay comfortably in AZ all year.

Linda

[Velos]

Yes, out of the 500+ lots in Juniper Ridge only about 60 are year round and many of those are park employees.  The rest come up from the valley,  (74 this year from Casa Grande, AZ alone), and several from California and Montana.  The high season in Show Low is May through September, though October can be beautiful in the mountains.

I did a Google search for "Deeded lots in the Phoenix Valley area of AZ"  The east valley ie Apache Junction area is less expensive than Phoenix or Mesa.

[ssomwm]

Thanks everyone - great information and some things to think over.  This is the start of a long trail of research and looking.

-Bill

[Jim & Alice]

14 hours ago, Kirk W said:

We lived in a barn-dominium when we left the road. Lots of people are building these in TX.

Our new RV Port, big enough for our motorhome and the toad beside it... plus porch, etc.   We have a 10' x 16' Graceland shed behind the motorhome.   Golf course in the back.

[ssomwm]

So . . . - does the RV port really keep the rig cooler and cut on A/C costs?

-Bill

[sandsys]

Last month Nancy Kissack had an RV port installed at her house in Arizona and she's VERY happy with the difference in air temperature. In case you'd like to read about her installation, her blog is:

https://kissackadventures.blogspot.com

Linda

[ToddF]

Story on Bloomberg this morning re skyrocketing lumber prices. (Ditto for steel). Construction costs for raw material are soaring. I'd look around for something already set up and grab it if it suits your fancy. 

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-07/timber-touches-record-with-lockdowns-spurring-renovation-revival

Edited August 10, 2020 by ToddF

[Kirk W]

8 hours ago, ssomwm said:

So . . . - does the RV port really keep the rig cooler and cut on A/C costs?

Because RVs are not the best insulated, the radiant heat gain is considerable. Think about what happens in a car left parked in the sun. Very quickly the inside temperature is well above the ambient air temperature. While RVs do have more insulation than cars, the effect is much the same, albeit somewhat less so. Even a stick house will benefit from less heat rise if in shade than one in full sun. 

[Jim & Alice]

On 8/9/2020 at 8:40 PM, ssomwm said:

So . . . - does the RV port really keep the rig cooler and cut on A/C costs?

-Bill

Anecdotal evidence says yes.   We have been 'moved in' for about a month now, and judging from the 'personal body temperature feel', and the performance of the A/C, it makes a considerable difference.   Both A/C Compressors run continuously from mid-late morning until about 8 PM at night... when we reach our desired 78 degrees... and then sporadically runs as needed, maintaining our 78 temp until the next morning.   (During the daytime the outside shade temps are in the 110 - 115+ range.)   More importantly, "we feel the cool'.   Also, we had our RV Port built wide enough to accommodate our Honda CR-V parked underneath in the adjacent shade.   It makes a HUGE difference on the Honda's parked temperature.   We have not yet received our monthly Electric Bill from the Town of Wellton.   I don't expect miracles, but just the improved living accomodation makes it worthwhile as a long-term Homebase investment.   Incidentally, ours is the 4th such structure like this put up on our street in the last six months... all by the same company, of the same type build.   Similar thinking going on out there!

 

Edited August 11, 2020 by Jim & Alice

[Velos]

We have an insulated roofing material and a N/S orientation so we have shade on the patio deck starting around 9 am till the rest of the day.  Is great for summer, though we haven't had much rain this summer we can watch it from our deck.  Also built deck even with entry door so no steps to go up and down to go out to the patio. We think it keeps the rig cooler and also protects the  RV roof.